Cody successfully defended his TNT Championship against Jungle Boy this past Wednesday on AEW Dynamite, and we later found out that Private Party's Marq Quen would be The American Nightmare's next challenger. Quen is a great talent, but some fans were a little surprised that he'd seemingly earned a title shot out of nowhere.
Well, it's now been revealed that he wasn't AEW's first choice for Cody's next opponent.
According to Dave Meltzer on the latest episode of Wrestling Observer Radio, Lucha Bros.' Rey Fenix, who is now a member of the Death Triangle faction with Pentagon Jr. and PAC, was originally supposed to face Rhodes for the championship. Apparently, plans changed once it became clear that Fenix would not be cleared to compete following the ankle injury he sustained during his match with Orange Cassidy two weeks prior.
Fenix facing Cody for the title makes a bit more sense (he's a heel, for a start), and would almost certainly have made for a terrific match. We;re sure Quen will also have a good showing, but hopefully we'll still get to see Cody vs. Rey Fenix at some point down the line.